Still Life with Scabiosa and Ranunculus

Van Gogh's Still Life with Scabiosa and Ranunculus, painted in 1886 during his Paris period, belongs to his systematic exploration of different flower species as chromatic and compositional studies. Both scabiosa and ranunculus offered him complex, multi-petaled forms in the blue-purple and yellow-orange ranges respectively — a complementary color pairing he would have found interesting. The Paris period flower paintings are laboratories of chromatic discovery, each species providing different material for testing the color theory he was absorbing from reading Delacroix and observing the Neo-Impressionists. The work is currently in a private collection.

The scabiosa and ranunculus together create a complementary color relationship — the purple-blue of scabiosa against the warm yellows and oranges of ranunculus. Van Gogh's Paris palette is engaged in exploring these relationships with developing chromatic sophistication. His brushwork distinguishes the different flower structures with appropriate variation in stroke character.